On a beautiful Saturday morning with crisp fall conditions and a light easterly wind blowing off of Mount Hope Bay the Roger Williams University’s women’s rugby team defeated The University of Rhode Island 70 to 5. As it was Senior Day, the girls were presented with floral bouquets, posed for photos with family and received boisterous applause from the enthusiastic home crowd before kickoff.

After graduating 14 seniors last year and a tough loss two weeks ago to the Coast Guard Academy, coach Caitlin Callahan asked herself and her team to consider what they wanted to get out of this season. They spent the last two weeks working on fitness, running hard, working on defense and figuring out a structure that would work with their strengths.

For the URI game, the team started playing with a new offense and a lot of the players were trying out new positions for the first time. Coach Callahan was happy with the results of these efforts. "I think this season I’ve been extremely proud of how willing the girls are to try new things and step out of their comfort zones. They’re extremely coachable, great listeners and they have really great attitudes. They’re super positive and happy and it’s really a pleasure to be around.

"I think something to know about rugby in general is that you don’t need any experience to play. If you’re an athlete, particularly a girl in high school who likes to be a little bit more physical in your non-contact sports I think rugby‘s a great option. It’s a great way to continue playing sports at college and it’s a great community that lives on friendship and sportsmanship.”